The results of two types of dissolution experiment were reexamined to elucidate the influence of specific factors on the dissolution characteristics of granitic rocks (granodiorite and granite). Experiment A involved various solid/liquid ratios (0.25, 0.5, and 1) using samples (200 g in weight) crushed into fragments with three types of grain size (diameter of 32–45 mm, 8–16 mm, and 1–2 mm). In experiment B, a clay-sized powder sample (1.0 g in weight) or a block sample (3.54×3.54×20 mm³) was treated with 50. 0 ml of distilled water. The results of the experiments showed that 1) the dissolution characteristics (dissolution rate and amount of dissolved materials) are affected by the solid/liquid ratio and surface area of crushed samples, and the characteristics of granite are strongly influenced by the surface area; and 2) the difficulty dissolving a mass of granite is caused by the low porosity and small amount of alkali elements. Based on this evidence, one of key factors in the dissolution characteristics of granite is the behavior of colored minerals. When a mass of granite is crushed, Fe, K, and Mg are easily leached from the edge of biotite crystal, which influences the surface area and thus dissolution characteristics.

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This paper aims to explain the mechanism of transferring farmland rights in Japan's large- scale upland farming belt by focusing upon social relationships among farmers. Data on farm management, farmers' history of farming, and records of transferring farmland rights were collected for this study through interviews with all farmers in the case study area. Mechanisms of farmers' social relationships were analyzed by applying the concept of “multiplex–uniplex” that is used in the social network approach.
The case study area was Omaki and Kouwa settlements in the town of Otofuke, Hokkaido prefecture. This area was newly cleared and opened for settlement in 1950. Major agricultural enterprises in this area are upland, dairy, and vegetable farming.
The main findings of this study are summarized as follows:
1) Various social relationships among farmers were observed behind the transfer of farmland rights. These relationships included territorial relations, kinship, attending the same elementary school, and serving together as PTA officers. Some agencies such as the Hokkaido Agricultural Development Corporation were also involved in these relationships.
2) Types of social relationships varied in the way the transfer of farmland rights overlapped. Almost all transfers of farmland rights were influenced by multiplex relationships, such as a combination of territorial relations, kinship, and school connections. On the other hand, uniplex relationships existed in transfer of farmland rights when farmers did not have these social relationships.
3) Social relationships in transferring farmland rights expanded spatially from the scale of the neighborhood or settlement into the scale of Nakaotofuke district, other districts, and outside Otofuke. Many farmers accumulated most of the farmland within their settlements, but depending on farm management conditions some late accumulated farmland were located outside their settlements. Thus, farmers' management scale increased, and a large-scale upland farming belt was formed.

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Over the past few decades, there have been significant changes in the urban public sector under the sociopolitical and economic influences of neoliberalism. Not only did this lead to the deregulation and privatization of various governmental services, it also brought about more direct policy participation by the nongovernmental nonprofit sector as an alternative service deliverer.
This study examined the increasingly significant roles that refugee resettlement assistance programs played through nonprofit community-based organizations in an urban area of the USA. Statistical data analysis and field interviews were conducted from 2003 in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) metropolitan area of Minnesota concerning individuals and organizations engaged in housing and job referral assistance for refugee groups in two different influx periods: phase I since the late 1970s from Southeast Asia and phase II since the early 1990s from the Horn of Africa; both groups were displaced by war.
Refugees resettling in the Twin Cities were mainly trapped in existing inner city areas due to insufficiencies both in governmental aid for refugees and in housing assistance for general low-income populations. During phase I, Southeast Asian refugees sought housing options in federally subsidized public housing stock located in the inner city, while African refugees during phase II were not able to rely on public housing due to the limited availability of housing units. The latter can be seen as the influence of neoliberalization on refugee resettlement assistance. The federal government's policies for the urban poor and their housing choices experienced a drastic transformation to give more power and flexibility to local governments for the purpose of working with the nongovernmental nonprofit sector (i.e. federal Community Development Block Grant and Section 8 housing program). This devolutionary transition therefore has given rise to the roles of nonprofit community organizations as alternative service providers.
The field study found that the community organizations implemented refugee aid by regarding resettlement issues as general inner city problems, and thus were receiving public and private funds as their coping strategy to remedy urban blight, if not the refugee issue per se. Further, two major types of service programs were identified and categorized with their main missions and activities: 1) “suburban job-housing assistance programs,” in which organizations help refugees find employment in the suburban higher-income labor market, build and supply low-income affordable housing units in suburbia, and facilitate transportation by bus or car pool from the inner city area to the suburbs; and 2) “inner city revitalization programs” in which impoverished inner city neighborhoods are literally revitalized through housing rehabilitation and entrepreneurship.
Further urban geographic studies are necessary to identify issues and characteristics of more complex neoliberal consequences in US urban governance in partnership with other sectors of nonprofit community organizations such as universities, think tanks, consultancies, and private for-profit businesses.

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In previous studies on the Yaeyama Islands, it was assumed that the desertion of villages during the modern age was mostly due to a decrease in poplulation caused by malaria. On the other hand, there are villages such as Sonai that have been sustained for more than 500 years on Iriomote Island despite major malaria epidemics. This article examines the factors contributing to the survival of a village by analyzing the characteristics shared by malaria-prevalent villages that survived the period from 1900 through 1938 when many villages in Yaeyama were deserted. It was found that all the villages that had survived on the Yaeyama Islands were old ones built before Sai On's time except for Ibaruma village, the origins of which are obscure. Those old villages were blessed with favorable geographic conditions such as good seaports and spring water that contributed to the improvement of the local infrastructure and thus were thought to have sustained their populations despite unreasonable taxes imposed by local administrators. By comparing the rates of village desertion and prevalence of malaria between Ishigaki and Iriomote Islands during that time, it became clear that the latter had more effective malaria control. After examining the case of Sonai village, where sufficient materials are available, it was found that its residents were voluntarily moving as well as making a full commitment to the malaria prevention project. An old village such as Sonai had strong bonds within the community to avoid the risk of population decrease, and it was the social structure based on this type of human relationships that underpinned the creation of strategies for alleviating malaria epidemics and sustaining the village.

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Holocene sea-level studies in the southern North Sea region of continental Europe situated in a subsiding area due to glacio-isostasy are reviewed and the possibility of sea-level fluctuations is discussed.
Most sea-level curves in this region were depicted indirectly through the groundwater-level curves reconstructed using radiocarbon data obtained from the base of basal peat underlain by Pleistocene or coastal dune deposits to eliminate the influence of compaction because most Holocene sediments consist of peat or clay. To detect sea-level fluctuations using this method, it is necessary to collect as many samples as possible with a clear relation to groundwater level on a slope of the basement considering various local factors such as river gradient effects, flood depression effects, opening–closing effects of the coastal barrier, and microtopographic effects of the basement slope. Even if all these conditions can be overcome, it is difficult to find evidence of a temporal sea-level fall because it induces the decomposition of the peat surface, and a new layer of peat accumulates on the previous peat layer with the subsequent sea-level rise. As a result, the apparent decrease in the rate of sea-level rise or stillstand must be determined.
Only two former studies, one by Van de Plassche (1982) for the western Netherlands and the other by Behre (2003) for northwest Germany (Behre 2007 is the English version), aimed to determine sea-level fluctuations in this region. Van de Plassche (1982) found changes in the rate of groundwater-level rise several times between 7000 and 2800 cal BP using the data obtained from the base of basal peat and discussed the relationship with sea-level fluctuations. Behre (2003) depicted a sea-level curve with several sea-level falls during the last 9700 cal BP. However, the reliability of this curve for amplitude and level was not always high, although the timing can be discussed because some samples for sea-level index points involved the influence of compaction, and the changes in sea level were inferred from the formative periods of peat layers and occupation layers.
Sea-level fall or stillstand between 5200 and 4500 cal BP and acceleration of sea-level rise between 4500 and 4100 cal BP were found in both curves. Between 3300 and 2900 cal BP, an abrupt sea-level fall was inferred in northwest Germany, whereas the sea level in the western Netherlands was almost at a stillstand. The abrupt sea-level fall depicted in the sea-level curve for northwest Germany is likely to reflect the effect of compaction because the desalination of salt marshes and seaward expansion of peatlands were not recognized for this period. The temporal emergence of salt marshes between 2350 and 1900 cal BP suggests a sea-level fall and subsequent sea-level rise. These trends almost synchronize with the trends in the Asia-Pacific region except for the relative rapid sea-level rise prior to deceleration around 5200 cal BP.

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